Gioia’s Rec:
As I’ve often mentioned previously, I find it discouraging how little fanfic there is for the Narnia fandom – a fandom whose own creator, C.S. Lewis, endorsed and encouraged fanfic! I’m therefore exited to offer this Narnian rec.

I was pointed to LunaStorm’s story, “The Little Prince,” quite some time ago and read “Of Telmarine Descent” at the same time. It brings me immeasurable delight that, with LunaStorm’s permission, another author picked up where that story left off, resulting in “Lady Alana of Beruna.” I’m recommending the two stories together, because they are each necessary to the other.

The first part, by LunaStorm, is told from the perspective of a young Oxford student, Edmund Pevensie, who has noticed a lady-like, gentle co-ed and can’t seem to stop watching her. His startling discovery about her origins may be predictable to us, given the story’s summary, but it’s lovely to see their meeting from Edmund’s POV and imagine his dropping jaw. The second story splits the POVs between Edmund and Alana. Of that second story I won’t say much, as I don’t want to spoil you. Suffice it to say that if you’ve wondered how the Pevensie siblings (yes, all four, including Susan) handled life back in England after their reigns as Kings and Queens in Narnia, this is your story. It’s sweet, heart-felt, wrenching and utterly gorgeous, both in its original conception and in its ultimate conclusion.

2 Responses to Of Telmarine Descent by LunaStorm and Lady Alana of Beruna by LoveNarnia

There are over ten thousand stories in the Narnia section on ff.net alone; if that’s “little” then I’m not sure what would count as “many!”

I promise there are also far better-written fics in that section than these two. Not that there’s anything outright awful about them, but there’s also not much special: no real spark, you know? They are well-punctuated and readable, but not much more.

However, there are plenty of Narnia stories with a harmony of plot and pacing, strong characterization and an excellent command of the original text, whether in spirit, in style or–best of all–in both. If you want to be properly spoiled with good writing, maybe start with some BNFs by reading Almyra or electkrum. Once you’ve finished their work, you could check out the links to their favourite stories and authors, and go from there.